[tracyhebert]

Whenever I log on to my computer I get a bunch of errors saying windows cannot open this file .... choose from list or go to internet. Most of the Icons on my desktop have switched to the same picture of the piece of paper w/the corner folded and then the square w/the blue bar at the top with the 3 dots of something in the square. If I right click on the icon and go to properties and the general tab the file type says LNK. Most of my programs won't open and I have problems getting the all of the control panel programs to open to check things. Could this be a virus or was something misktakenly change on my computer to screw things up.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Thanks,
Tracy

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Hi tracyhebert...

The file associations have been messed up a bit. Download the attached file and save it to your desktop. Right click the downloaded file and choose "Extract All"...extract it to your desktop. Right click on the extracted file and choose "Merge"...accept the change.

Reboot and see if your shortcuts work properly.

 linkfile_fix.zip   885bytes   346 downloads
wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi tracyhebert...

The file associations have been messed up a bit. Download the attached file and save it to your desktop. Right click the downloaded file and choose "Extract All"...extract it to your desktop. Right click on the extracted file and choose "Merge"...accept the change.

Reboot and see if your shortcuts work properly.

 linkfile_fix.zip   885bytes   346 downloads
wannabe1

[tracyhebert]

When I right click on the extracted file and click on merge .... nothing happens.

Thanks for the quick reply!

[wannabe1]

Did you reboot and try the shortcuts?

[tracyhebert]

When I clicked on the merge selection it never asked me to accept the change ... nothing happened at all.. like I never even clicked on it. I did reboot just to see and still the same as before.

[wannabe1]

What happens when you double click on the file?

Do you have a registry monitor such as Tea Timer or Go Back installed?

[tracyhebert]

Kept trying it finally got a run ..... clicked on run and got this msg.....This program does not have a program associated w/it for performing this action. Create an association in the folder options control panel.

[tracyhebert]

As far as I know I don't have that. Don't really know what a registry monitor is though.... I've never heard of Tea Time or Go Back

[wannabe1]

Right click on a desktop icon for one of your applications that won't open and choose "Properties". What does it say in the "Target" field?

[tracyhebert]

"C:\Documents and Settings\Michalyn\My Documents\Downloaded Programs\Updates"

[wannabe1]

Ok...now what application was that icon supposed to open?

[tracyhebert]

that icon says "Downloaded Program Updates"

[wannabe1]

Try it with a program icon that isn't working and give me the name of the program it's supposed to open and the address in the "Target" field. I'm trying to determine just how the associations have changed.

[tracyhebert]

OK.... let's try Corel Paint Shop Pro X.... "C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro X\Paint Shop Pro X.exe"

[wannabe1]

The shortcut target address is correct, so the icons are probably good.

Click Start, then Run, type regedit and click "Ok". Registry Editor will open.

In the left pane, expand (click +) HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and click on .exe

The values in the right pane for this key should be as follows:

(Default) = exefile

Content Type = application/x-msdownload

Is this what you find?